Giving a gift to stranger seems to be a strange thing to do, at least when you first think about it.  Yet, for Christians, should that be the case.  After all, the magi, also known as ‘the wise men’, however many there were of them, presented their gifts to someone they had never met before.  As we approach the end of one year and the beginning of another; as we celebrate Christmas, I’m glad to say that the three congregations in this pastorate make specific efforts to give Christmas gifts to strangers.

All three congregations hold ‘gift and toy services’.  At the beginning or during worship those present bring forward gifts that go to groups and organisations that can use or will especially value receiving a gift this Christmas.  At Brentwood URC gifts go to an organisation called Community Links, which is an east London charity working with 30,000 people each year.  They run youth clubs and children’s activities, including working with children who have been excluded from mainstream education.  They also provide advice for those with benefits, housing and debt problems.

At Billericay URC two organisations benefit from the gift and toy service.  HARP (Homeless Action Resource Project) is a charity combining the services of the former Southend Centre for the Homeless and Southend Night Shelter for the Homeless.  Its main objectives are to provide homeless people with help and advice in securing accommodation, and to alleviate homelessness through the provision of short-term emergency accommodation.  Other gifts collected at Billericay Mountnessing Court is an NHS residential care unit in Billericay, caring for a range of people.  Members of the Billericay congregation visit during the year to lead worship for Easter, Harvest and Christmas.

At Ingatestone URC gifts go to Chelmsford Women’s Aid’s, an organisation whose aim is to support women and children who are experiencing or have experienced domestic violence, encouraging them to develop skills, gain confidence and enable them to exercise their own power and to use all available opportunities and choices to successfully move on in their lives.

Recently I was leading one of the Thursday morning prayer meeting at Ingatestone URC (starts at 9:15am in the West Room, concludes prior to 10:00am – all welcome to come along if available!).  The passage we were looking at was Matthew 25: 31-46, the passage that envisions the ‘Son of Man’ dividing the peoples up like flocks of sheep and goats, the former receiving God’s blessing, the latter consigned to ‘eternal punishment’.  What we concentrated upon, however, was the basis on which the division was made, not on this occasion because of belief or lack of it but because of how they had treated others.  The others include hungry, the thirsty, the poor, the sick, the imprisoned and the stranger; the ones who are facing difficulty in life.

I’m not commending bringing a gift for a stranger to a toy and gift service as a form of eternal-life insurance, a means of qualifying you for membership of the blessed ‘sheep’ rather than the rejected ‘goats’.  Nor am I suggesting our congregations can polish their collective halo to an even greater brightness just because we make some small gifts on one Sunday of the year.  Still, it seems to me that when we do this sort of thing we are taking a step along the right path and it is an example of how God wants his people to live at Christmas and for the rest of the year as well.

“The king will answer,

‘Truly I tell you: just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’”

(Matthew 25: 40)

Trevor

If you wish to find out more or even offer support to any of the voluntary organisations mentioned above…

Community Links                    [1] www.community-links.org/

HARP                                      [2] www.harpsouthend.co.uk/

Chelmsford Women’s Aid       [3] www.chelmsfordwa.co.uk/